Words of love
Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany, January 30, 2022
Jeremiah 1:4-10 • Luke 4:21-30
Words – so many words – we are surrounded by so many words. Anything from the comfortable to the uncomfortable. Words that reach out and gently touch us. Words that are signposts. Words that nourish and feed our souls. Words that provoke. Words that disturb and make us uncomfortable.
All three of our spoken readings from scripture are about words: words of truth. We have the beginning of Jeremiah’s prophetic journey, where he is in conversation with God, trying to wriggle of his job of speaking uncomfortable truths to those in power. He’s only a boy after all. God’s not having any of it, reminding Jeremiah that God knows him intimately. Jeremiah is up to the job, and that God will be with him every step of the way. And then God touches Jeremiah’s lips with a hand – an intimate gesture that I find very moving. If you remember, the prophets Isaiah and Ezekiel had rather more alarming experiences: Isaiah having his mouth touched with a burning coal, and Ezekiel being instructed to eat a scroll.
Our gospel story today completes what we began last week. Jesus has been baptized, he’s had his forty days in the Wilderness. He’s now beginning his ministry, gathering disciples around him. And he goes home for a visit: back to family, his mother Mary, his brothers and sisters, his friends. And he goes to worship in the synagogue on the sabbath. He stands up, volunteering to read, is given the scroll of the prophet Isaiah, and chooses the passage about ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me’. And at the end explains that there is truth in the passage, that the Spirit of God is indeed upon him, Jesus of Nazareth, and that he has been empowered by God to be a voice for justice in the world.
As you heard, it doesn’t go down well. Had Jesus been a stranger with his reputation preceding him, they could have heard him more easily, even been inspired. But this is Jesus who grew up among them. Who does he think he is? What outrageous arrogance, even blasphemy! They are so angry they want to hurl him off a cliff! His words deeply disturb them.
Words can be deeply disturbing. They can challenge what we believe, we hope to be true. They can expose lies, roll back the carpet to expose ugly realities that some have always known to be there, but others have not seen.
Words are not always equal in integrity. As we know all too well, there is a lot of what I call shouting from the shallow end. Voices insisting on being heard without any truth, even based on falsehoods. And there are voices speaking from deep places, but in grievous error.
The process of listening always demands discernment. And our reading from First Corinthians give us a litmus test for truth. If the words we are hearing are not spoken in love, they are worth nothing. They are being uttered by ‘a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal’. True prophets speak in deep love: love of God, whether they know God by that name or not, love of truth, love of justice, love for those not being loved by others as they should.
There have always been prophets, courageous individuals with words of truth to speak to those in power. It’s not a career path for the timid, and doesn’t always end well. Jeremiah was thrown into a muddy cistern. We know what happened to Jesus. Many have been stoned and killed.
If I think of prophetic voices today, names that come to mind are Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Nikole Hannah-Jones of the 1619 project, Bishop William Barber, president of the Repairers of the Breach and co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign. I think of Katrina Browne, whose documentary ‘Traces of the Trade’ and work with the Sacred Ground curriculum is familiar to us here at Holy Innocents. And I think of the voices in Faith in Action in this city, working for immigration reform and housing justice.
I wonder who you recognize as prophets in our world today. They might be international figures. They might be voices in your neighborhood. It might be the voice of Holy Innocents. It might be your voice.
God may indeed be calling some of us to acts of courageous truth telling. I do believe God is calling all of us to listen to words of truth: whether they make our ears itch or not. Whatever our vocation, just as God reminds Jeremiah, God tells us too: God is with us and we are with God: every step of the way, every breath of the journey.
As the portion of psalm 71 that we heard today tells us:
1 In you, O God, have I taken refuge; * let me never be ashamed.
2 In your righteousness, deliver me and set me free; * incline your ear to me and save me.
3 Be my strong rock, a castle to keep me safe; * you are my crag and my stronghold.
4 Deliver me, my God, from the hand of the wicked, * from the clutches of the evildoer and the oppressor.
5 For you are my hope, O GOD, *
my confidence since I was young.
6 I have been sustained by you ever since I was born;
from my mother's womb you have been my strength; * my praise shall be always of you.